M.2

M.2 is a interface specification for internal expansion cards (so-called M.2 modules) for notebooks, PCs and server and is the successor of Mini PCIe and mSATA in 2023. M.2 slots can, independently of their performance, enable the port of PCIe, SATA or USB cards. In this article, we show common types of M.2 modules.

M.2 modules

Dependent on their type (measurements) and used protocols (PCIe, SATA, USB), M.2 modules are designated according to the following nomenclature:

Example	XX (Width)	XX (Length)	-XX (maximum height)	-X-X (Key ID)
	12 16 22 30	16 26 30 42 50 60 80 110	S1 S2 S3 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5	A (PCIe ×2, USB 2.0, I2C, DP ×4) B (PCIe ×2, SATA, USB 2.0 und 3.0, Audio, UIM, HSIC, SSIC, I2C, SMBus) E (PCIe ×2, USB 2.0, I2C, SDIO, UART, PCM) M (PCIe ×4, SATA, SMBus)
SATA SSD, 42mm long Transcend MTS400S 64GB M.2 (TS64GMTS400S)	Type 2242-D2-B-M (SATA) 22mm width 42mm length 1,35mm at the top, 1,35mm below (double-sided, with 0,8mm of the board in sum 3,5mm) compatible with M.2 Slots with Key B or M
SATA SSD, 80mm long Kingston M.2 SATA G2 120GB (SM2280S3G2/120G)	Type 2280-D2-B-M (SATA) 22mm width 80mm length 1,35mm oben, 1,35mm unten (double-sided, with 0,8mm of the board in sum 3,5mm) compatible with M.2 Slots with Key B or M
NVMe SSD, 80mm long Samsung SSD 960 EVO NVMe 250GB M.2 (MZ-V6E250BW)	Type 2280-S3-M (PCIe x4) 22mm width 80mm length 1,5mm at the top (single-sided, with 0,8mm of the board in sum 2,3mm) compatible with M.2 Slots with Key M

M.2 Slots

Depending on the design, the M.2 slots (which are typically located on the motherboard or a PCIe expansion card) support both SATA and PCIe M.2 modules, or only PCIe modules, for example. Verify the information in the instructions of your mainboard as well as the article M.2 and mSATA SSD Support of Thomas-Krenn Servers.

More information

• PCI Express M.2 Specifications (pcisig.com)
• M.2 de.wikipedia.org
• The M.2 interface (www.delock.de)

Author: Werner Fischer Werner Fischer, working in the Knowledge Transfer team at Thomas-Krenn, completed his studies of Computer and Media Security at FH Hagenberg in Austria. He is a regular speaker at many conferences like LinuxTag, OSMC, OSDC, LinuxCon, and author for various IT magazines. In his spare time he enjoys playing the piano and training for a good result at the annual Linz marathon relay.

Translator: Alina Ranzinger Alina has been working at Thomas-Krenn.AG since 2024. After her training as multilingual business assistant, she got her job as assistant of the Product Management and is responsible for the translation of texts and for the organisation of the department.